Friday, 22 October 2010

Why has the usually media hungry Cllr Tony "Mr Oxford Road / Mr Reading Buses" Jones been notable by his absence in recent high profile events in his area?Not to be seen when the Home Secretary visited the Oxford Road - though Page, Maskell, Lovelock, Salter et al were all on parade.Not be seen at the launch of the first of the new enthanol fleet at Reading Buses - instead Sutton mugging the limelight.

'cos he hates their guts and couldn't bear to be seen in the same picture with them!

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

The full council meeting had a large part of it taken up with petitions and motions about the catchment area for Maiden Erlegh school. It is interesting that for such a "non-political" cause that a strategy of confrontation and legal threats seemed to be the prefered course of action with any idea that negotiation had any place in the resolution process dismissed. Also it was presumably a complete co-incidence that a large number of known Labour supporters were in attendance.

One thing that I learned about politics is to understand why you are doing it. Throwing the toys out of the pram and running headlong to confrontation almost always fails. The trouble is, it's the only way that Labour knows and parents following their advice should think again of following it if they really want the right outcome.

You have to just look at how Labour behaved in power to see that they are doomed to fail. Why was there a long gap between the bus shelters being removed and being replaced? It was because Labour made unnecessary derogatory remarks about the previous company. There are numerous examples of their confrontation approach failing the people of Reading.

Even by their standards, it was a weasel attempt to re-write history. Even Peter Jones in his attempt to prove that Labour didn't know anything about the review read out an email about a meeting on the 26th of March that no-one from the then Labour administration could be bothered to attend. Sounds eerily similar to a licensing matter where three Labour councillors apparently all suffered the same junk mail filter problem in April and missed a licensing application in Norcot, then tried to blame everyone else for them dropping the ball. They will never accept responsibility for their own failings. It is not what they do.

There are more Lib Dem policies being put into action through dialogue and agreement than ever were implemented during Labour's aggressively tribal administration and a lesson that to get the right outcome for Reading residents, unpicking years of Labour confrontation with Wokingham and West Berkshire is the way to go, not perpetuate it.

The proof is in results, not how much foam you generate frothing at the mouth. Labour's methods are doomed to fail and parents should be cautious about listening to Labour. They only have their own interests at heart and it is not the children of Park and Church wards.

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About Me

Once I was a boy, which seems funny to me. Yes, I threw my stones, read my books, climbed those trees.
What can I say to you mister?
Yes, I've been drinking again. You can beat my brains, but don't kiss me again.
I've always been like this, since I was young, I'm a truculent bigot, I revel in scum.